Pictured above are Allen Pickham, Sr., Russel Jim, and Lonnie Selam, Sr.,
of the Yakima Indian Nation, offering a prayer for Mother Earth at the
opening ceremony of the Earth Day Expo in 1990 at the National Mall in
Washington, D.C.  The Expo included seminars on the rain forest,
recycling, solar energy, and endangered species; workshops on ecological
consciousness; and environmental theater.  It was fitting that the opening
ceremonies be conducted by Native American elders and tribal leaders. 
Native American religion has always turned to the earth and all natural
elements as sources of power.  Creation stories often foretell natural
disasters to cleanse the earth of destructive forces, similar to those now
predicted by scientists discussing the greenhouse effect.